Preservation should not be at expense of town

This is partially in reply to Liz Peter's letter to the editor ("Milltown Residents Urged to Just Say No to Variance") in the July 13 issue of the Sentinel and partially to look more into the issues surrounding the sale of the Forney house on Main Street in Milltown.

The current owner is looking to sell the property to a bank, and the bank is looking for a "variance" to accommodate what it is looking to do with the site. I have no interest in our town becoming a larger property owner than it needs to be. Having a town hall, library, fire departments, parks, senior citizens hall and the other services needed to handle the running of the town is plenty. I am all for the historical preservation of worthy areas, but not at the expense of a small town that is always struggling to balance taxes and spending.

I wonder why the historians are just now worried about the Forney house, after it has fallen into poor physical shape and the property has slowly become an eyesore over the past few years with its overgrown trees and shrubs. Why didn't they worry about this house years ago and work with the owners or the state to make it a true historical site and not look to burden the Milltowners with a huge expense? I also find it a little bit funny that the idea of yet another bank being on that site is drawing so much attention.

Just a few years ago we had another hot "variance" issue in town with the Wendy's on Ryders Lane. Neighbors in that area were against it and wondered why a more neighborly kind of business, like a bank, wouldn't take over that site. I also don't know why Milltown needs another bank, but that is really none of my business. I thought the same thing when we went from no pizzerias years ago to about five now and the same for strip malls and convenience stores, but they all seem to stay in business and provide jobs and income to our community.

While we do have very bad traffic conditions on Main Street, I don't see a bank adding much, if at all, to that problem. Banks are generally not open during the worst part of the rush hours. Also, where will all the new bank customers come from? Probably from other banks, so we may not really have many more people in the area than before.

I, too, don't want our government telling me or any of my neighbors that we can't sell our property, but I would be all for an official process where Milltown takes on the "historical preservation" issue the right way. What have towns like Cranbury done to get historical buildings preserved?

Mike Healey

Milltown